The Lykov children knew there were places called cities where humans lived crammed together in tall buildings. They had heard there were countries other than Russia. But such concepts were no more than abstractions to them. Their only reading matter was prayer books and an ancient family Bible. Akulina had used the gospels to teach her children to read and write, using sharpened birch sticks dipped into honeysuckle juice as pen and ink. When Agafia was shown a picture of a horse, she recognized it from her mother’s Bible stories. “Look, papa,” she exclaimed. “A steed!”

But if the family’s isolation was hard to grasp, the unmitigated harshness of their lives was not. Traveling to the Lykov homestead on foot was astonishingly arduous, even with the help of a boat along the Abakan. On his first visit to the Lykovs, Peskov—who would appoint himself the family’s chief chronicler—noted that “we traversed 250 kilometres [155 miles] without seeing a single human dwelling!”

Isolation made survival in the wilderness close to impossible. Dependent solely on their own resources, the Lykovs struggled to replace the few things they had brought into the taiga with them. They fashioned birch-bark galoshes in place of shoes. Clothes were patched and repatched until they fell apart, then replaced with hemp cloth grown from seed.

The Lykovs had carried a crude spinning wheel and, incredibly, the components of a loom into the taiga with them—moving these from place to place as they gradually went further into the wilderness must have required many long and arduous journeys—but they had no technology for replacing metal. A couple of kettles served them well for many years, but when rust finally overcame them, the only replacements they could fashion came from birch bark. Since these could not be placed in a fire, it became far harder to cook. By the time the Lykovs were discovered, their staple diet was potato patties mixed with ground rye and hemp seeds.

Any society can live under libertarian principles but how is it going to affect access and quality of education and health? How is it going to effect productivity and competitiveness in a global economy? Think about it. A country that can successfully adopt libertarian principles is probably Switzerland, where inequality is low. But even there, libertarianism is not the best option for them.

oh wow. if they were in the U.S. i’m pretty sure their children (if of age) would be taken away. the adults would be arrested for trespassing. they would be taught what they were doing was wrong. then the media would exploit them, an attorney/manager would prosper from their sudden celebrity, reality show and then they get dropped like a rock when americans find something else to concentrate on………………..all in 15 minutes.

oh wow. if they were in the U.S. i’m pretty sure their children (if of age) would be taken away. the adults would be arrested for trespassing. they would be taught what they were doing was wrong. then the media would exploit them, an attorney/manager would prosper from their sudden celebrity, reality show and then they get dropped like a rock when americans find something else to concentrate on………………..all in 15 minutes.

You know… I have to pause, stand up and applaud.

This is some world-class trolling, there.

With all that.. IN ONE paragraph !! WHOOO-BOY…

Man, that is some funny shite… I have to wipe a tear of laughter from my eye.

M. Renolds –The Lykov children knew there were places called cities where humans lived crammed together in tall buildings. They had heard there were countries other than Russia. But such concepts were no more than abstractions to them. Their only reading matter was prayer books and an ancient family Bible. Akulina had used the gospels to teach her children to read and write, using sharpened birch sticks dipped into honeysuckle juice as pen and ink. When Agafia was shown a picture of a horse, she recognized it from her mother’s Bible stories. “Look, papa,” she exclaimed. “A steed!”

Sounds like the start of another Newberry Award short list. (JK, of course!), but it did make me think of the novel your wife wrote and the extraordinary (and extraordinarily harsh) lives these children lived. And the extraordinary that exists around all of us. The article is really worth the read.

@wr:
@L C: I think you’re being a little harsh on the troll. After all, doesn’t this describe almost exactly what happened to the Palin family once they were discovered living in the wilderness?

It may or may not be trolling, but I think his flight of fancy IS somewhat accurate. If these folks HAD been in America, no doubt about it they’d be on the Today show, Leno, everywhere, if someone could coax or coerce them to do so.